To Good Friends
It’s something that has to get done. Sometimes you want to do it, and other times, not so much.
Neighbors, Cary and Woody both knew all too well that when the dog wakes you up in the morning, a walk outside is in your near future - like it or not. Most days, they liked it.
At a certain point, Cary Kelly and his wife Mona, along with their neighbors, Woody Sherwood and Marnie Easly found themselves walking their dogs around the same time each day. Soon, they were arranging for it to happen more deliberately. After several months, the couples and their dogs became friends, looking forward to those regular daily walks together.
“It all started with Cary and Mona,” Woody began. “It ended up being a little group of friends. Some had dogs to walk, and those who didn’t have a dog came too.”
On any given day there might be four to eight people in the group meeting up at 7:30 a.m. to walk, “Not hike,” Woody was quick to point out. They refer to themselves as the Everyday Walkers to allay any confusion with the Bonner County Monday Hikers.
During the near decade that the group has been walking together, they have seen beloved dogs come and go. People have also come and gone as circumstances change. But, the friends were always there together.
Many friendships emerged from this informal daily gathering, including a very special one between Cary and Woody. The two had a lot in common. Both retired, they had served in leadership roles throughout their lives. Conversations often centered on the similar experiences they shared; for Woody as the Ski Patrol Director at Crested Butte and leading a large nonprofit organization for many years, and for Carey - a highly decorated military veteran and life-long public servant. If not for the Everyday Walkers, they may not have ever discovered their similar backgrounds.
Both served on the Board of Directors for the Better Together Animal Alliance and were active supporters of various nonprofits in the region.
“Cary really embraced the community and added a lot to it,” Woody reflected. “The work of nonprofits is what creates the whole of the community - it’s what draws people here and keeps them here. We both realized the value of that.”
Naturally, they started to talk about how their life and leadership experiences could be employed to benefit their community in relation to their walking hobby. Thus, The Good Friends Fund was conceived.
The Good Friends Fund goes toward paying for trail development and maintenance, new trail property purchases, and other activities that strengthen community’s human/animal bond, outdoor recreation, and regional partnerships. While anyone is welcome to participate in adding to the fund, it was inspired by the community and good friends.
It was during one recent Saturday morning walk when Cary said to Woody, “There comes a time in your life when you reach a certain age that you cannot make new old friends, but you can make good friends.”
Those words nudged Woody, Marnie, and the Everyday Walkers towards starting a fund in honor of Cary and Mona for their many contributions to the community. Woody and Marnie immediately began working with Katie Cox of Kaniksu Land Trust to create and manage the fund.
“Running into Cary and Woody and the Everyday Walkers on the trail was a regular occurrence for me,” said Katie. “It was easy to see how much this group enjoyed one another and being out in nature together. The Good Friends fund is a natural way to support continued trail friendships and provide new trail adventures for years to come. This is a special way for Cary’s love of trails and time with friends to carry on.”
As new Partner Sponsors, the Good Friends Fund of the Everyday Walkers will soon be recognized with a trail marker at Pine Street Woods. Woody and Marnie had looked forward to revealing the trail marker and sharing the news of the Good Friends Fund with Cary and Mona at an upcoming walk. Sadly, before that could happen, Cary was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and he passed away shortly thereafter.
“Good friends,” Woody summized. “The community lost a good friend.”
Woody and Cary’s dogs never could have known that their prodding for morning walks could have played such an important role in their best friends’ lives. Even the two families never imagined that their informal friends group could have made such positive impacts on so many people.
The Everyday Walkers still join together to walk each morning. “Whether you want to or not, you just have to get up and do it,” Woody said. “You’re always better for doing it and we are still making good friends on step at a time.”
For more information about the Good Friends Fund or to contribute toward it, contact KLT at (208)263-9471.
The following are sentiments from Woody himself:
“Good Friends, how did we come about this? Friendship and Good Friends means so much to Marnie and myself. It spans the gamut from a tombstone engraved for our first Chesapeake Bay Retriever “Sarah, A Good Friend” to life long friends and acquaintances from a myriad of circumstances such as work and play.
When Marnie and I set down late this spring to further reduce to writing our planned giving for our eventual demise from this good life, we knew that we wanted to include Kaniksu Land Trust in our legacy. KLT has so many great programs that we decided we need to focus on our interests and try to identify a way to do so. Working with Katie was so delightful and easy, we decided to create a designated fund managed by KLT called “Good Friends”, that the objectives of the fund could not only be something that holds our interest but can attract other donations
and contributions.
When Marnie and I moved here a number of years ago, one of our first acquaintances were our neighbors Cary and Mona Kelly. We found that having dogs required a daily regime of morning walks was something in common and fostered a true connection. At that time Greta’s Segway, poaching off of Cedar Ridge, and the Blue Gate off of Syringa were the only access to the Sherwood Forest. We would mix that in with the Bay Trail and occasional forays out the Trout Creek Wildlife Management Area off of the Pack River and Hwy 200. KLT has since added Pine Street Woods, The Sled Hill, and along with Steve and Julie Meyers, VTT. We found that several other people also plyed these same routes at the same time and we started walking together and formed a loose bond that we started calling the “The Everyday Walkers”. There was no official membership cards or secret handshakes, you could come and go as skiing, medical appointments, travel, and other life complication dictated. Many hours of walking and chatting develops bonds and friendships that endure individual personality foibles and good friendships evolve.
This past spring when Cary was sicker than we all realized, including Cary, we were headed to our weekly Fika (a social ritual central to Swedish culture, emphasizing slowing down, connecting with others, and enjoying the moment-thank you, Mona) on a Saturday morning Cary said to me, “There comes a time in your life when you reach a certain age that you cannot make new old friends, but you can make good friends.” representing the bonds within the Everyday Walkers.
Marnie and I then determined that we should make our planned giving a fund called the “Good Friends Fund” and its first objective was to create a trail directional sign in Pine Street Woods that was supported by the fund and honoring Cary and Mona Kelly. We were hopeful to announce this to Cary but it was not be with his passing.
The “Good Friends Fund” is established to honor the spirit of friendship, community, outdoor access, dog friendly recreation and partnership by providing financial support for trails and collaborative projects with other 501(c)(3) organizations. It has a fund agreement that specifies that KLT is the manager of the fund, makes investment and distribution decisions, consistent with the Fund goals. Contributions to the Fund are tax deductible through the 501(c)(3) status of KLT.”
